


The Switch

by karovie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Art, Bodyswap, Fluff, Happy Ending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Illustrated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 06:01:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10961178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karovie/pseuds/karovie
Summary: In the heat of a battle against the Galra, Lance and Keith are struck by an unstable experimental weapon that leaves them in a... tricky situation. It gives the team plenty of entertainment while they try to figure out how to reverse the effects. Then things take a sudden turn for the worse and the team find themselves with a very short timelimit.





	The Switch

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally done! after months of writing on and off..  
> Thank you so much to spacegaykogane for helping me out as always! <3 (and also for being an inspiration to a certain part in the fic ;D )  
> And thank you to my friends for inspiration and input! <3

“Lance! Keith! Where are you?” Shiro’s voice rang out over the comms. The two paladins had gotten separated from the others in the heat of the battle. Shiro and the others made their way through the Galra as they tried to find the red and blue paladins. For a moment, there was no response from the two, and Shiro found himself fearing the worst. 

 

“Shiro! We’re-”    
  
Purple and pink light exploded from a spot to Shiro’s right, cutting off Lance’s reply over the comms. The relief at hearing his voice was quickly washed away by the fear of losing him and Keith. 

 

The three paladins stared at the spot for a moment before throwing themselves into the fight again, making their way over to the source of the light. 

 

Allura finally got the castle in position and used its defences to help the paladins fighting on the ground. 

 

Shiro, followed closely by Pidge and Hunk, ran in the direction of the explosion. The Galra sentries fell around them one by one thanks to the castle’s accurate aim. 

 

They ran until they saw a patch of earth that was scorched. A little way off, there were two familiar bodies laid in a heap. 

 

Shiro’s heart shot up into his throat as he closed in on the two. Lance was lying on top of Keith, as if he’d jumped in the way of the explosion. It was likely, considering the last time something like this happened. 

 

Besides the scrapes and scorch marks from the fight, the two paladins didn’t look hurt. Shiro took a moment to breathe deeply, calming himself, before he knelt down to take a closer look at his teammates. 

 

They were both out cold, and after a proper check on them, the black paladin could not find any injuries, except for a few scrapes and bruises. He hoped they’d just gotten knocked out from the blast, and that nothing more serious was going on. 

 

“Hunk, help me get them to the pod. We need Coran to scan them for any internal injuries,” 

  
  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  
  
  


A few hours later found Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, Coran, and Allura in the control room. Coran had made sure Keith and Lance were in fact alright. They had been stripped of their armour and placed on cots in the medical bay, and the others had decided to let them rest there while they talked over the results of the mission in the control room. They all turned as they heard footsteps approaching. 

 

“Keith!” Shiro exclaimed. “I’m glad you’re up. Is Lance up, too?”

 

The red paladin, clad in only his black flight suit, leaned against the wall with crossed arms.

 

He smirked. 

 

It was such a strange thing to see on Keith. He was usually so quiet and subdued. He smiled at times, sure. But a smirk like this? With a mischievous glint in his eyes? That was not very common. Shiro didn’t even know if he’d ever seen it, before.

 

Keith lowered his face a bit, looking up at them from beneath thick eyelashes, closed one eye in a wink, lifted one hand up, and with a smooth voice, he said:   
  
“Well, here I am. What were your other two wishes?” his hand formed a finger gun at them, and he gave a lopsided smile.

  
  


 

 

Shiro spluttered. 

 

They were all shocked into silence, and just stared uncomprehending at Keith. 

 

After a moment, the most gleeful grin spread across his face. 

 

“That’s not Keith,” Pidge murmured at the same time Shiro thought it. 

 

“LANCE!!!!!” Lance’s voice sounded from the hallway, and it was the absolute angriest they had ever heard it. None of them ever heard anything even close to such fury in that boy’s voice. A moment later, Lance stumbled into the room, face twisted in a terrifyingly angry scowl.

 

Pidge yelped and clambered up on Shiro for protection. He immediately went into defense mode, but felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest as he stared wide eyed at the two boys before him. 

 

Lance was incredibly unsteady as he made his way over to Keith, the anger never fading from his face. He pinned the other to the wall, and faltered for a moment as he looked into the dark purple of Keith’s eyes, but then the anger was back tenfold.

 

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!” 

 

Keith stared wide eyed, and clearly terrified, at the other man. 

 

“That’s not Lance,” Pidge and Shiro muttered in unison. 

 

A long silence stretched between them all. No one made even the smallest movement.

 

“Keith?” Shiro let out. His voice, miraculously, sounded normal. 

 

Lance whipped his head around to look at Shiro with that deadpan typical Keith expression. 

 

“What?” Lance uttered. 

  
  
  


“Uuuhhhh…” Shiro felt like he was reduced into a hundred question marks at this point. He had no idea what to make of this situation.

 

“Lance?” Pidge asked, sounding like she was testing something. 

 

Keith looked at her and smiled nervously, still pinned to the wall. He lifted a trembling hand and waved.

 

“OH MY GOD THEY SWAPPED BODIES!” Pidge shrieked right by Shiro’s ear, making him jump and blink at the sudden ringing in his ear. 

 

The grumpy face on Lance- Keith? Got even grumpier at Pidge’s outburst. 

 

Pidge jumped down, Shiro relaxed his stance, and everyone looked curiously at the two young men that had recently joined them. 

 

Coran and Pidge were the first to approach them, but it was more like they were looking at a curious machine rather than two of the paladins. Hunk soon followed, and they all mumbled theories among themselves, wondering about the mechanics of a body swapping, asking the boys question after unanswered question. 

 

“What do we even call you guys now?” Hunk blurted out. “I mean you’re obviously still you, but you don’t look like you and it’s so strange to say the wrong name to the wrong face, and how about calling you Kance, and Leith? I mean Keith in Lance’s body, shortened to Kance and vice versa?” the yellow paladin was babbling now.

 

Lance- no, Keith, was uncomfortable with all the attention and poking and touching. He tried stepping back but ended up pressed closer to Coran, and when he tried going to the side, Pidge was there. He took a gasp of discomfort, his breathing hitching with anxiety. Adding the fact that he was in a completely unfamiliar body he froze up, his breathing picking up. 

 

“Guys, give us some space,” he heard his own voice say, and he moved his gaze over to look into his own face. Lance was looking at him with concern.

 

The guys stopped their obsessions and stepped away, not really understanding what was going on, but realizing something was up. 

 

Lance took a step forward- how did he manage to walk so steadily?- and looked into Keith’s eyes. 

 

“Hey man, breathe. It’s alright, we’re going to find a solution for this. We’ll be back in our own bodies in no time, and we’ll be fine. Just breathe,” he took exaggerated breaths of his own, trying to have Keith follow his lead. Keith was annoyed at himself for letting this happen, but he was glad Lance tried to help instead of just making it worse. The guy could be horribly annoying, true. But he also had the biggest heart of them all. Moments like these were when he showed his true self, and Keith found himself wishing to see this person more often.

 

It took a few minutes, but Keith finally managed to calm down well enough. The anxiety still stuck to him, though. Lance was still looking into his eyes, and it hit Keith then that he was looking down to keep eye contact with the guy. Lance’s body was taller than his? 

 

His train of thought was cut short as Allura cleared her throat. The two paladins looked up and gave her all of their attention.

 

“What happened out there?” it sounded like she was demanding it, rather than asking it. But that’s just how she spoke, and they both knew she was genuinely concerned in her own stern way. 

 

“We got separated from the others during the fight. We didn't really realize it until Shiro called out for us. And then this grenade-like thing was thrown at us and  _ boom _ . Next thing I know I woke up in Keith’s body,” Lance reached up to scratch at his neck, and was momentarily confused when he found thick hair in the way. 

 

“Lance saw it first and threw himself at me to get us away from the blast. I remember him barreling into me just as a bright pink light erupted from the ground and then nothing until I woke up here,” Keith muttered, crossing his arms. It was a strange sensation to cross his arms like this. Lance was by no means a weak person, but his muscles were shaped and toned differently from his own. Besides, the guy was taller and lankier built than him, too. 

 

“We will have to do some tests,” Coran spoke up cheerfully.

 

“Yes. We need to find out what is happening,” Allura agreed. 

 

“I think it’s best for them to get some rest, and food first,” Shiro commented. It had been several hours since their breakfast, and they had been in quite the strenuous fight.   
  
“That, my man, sounds like a wonderful idea,” Lance grinned, patting his, Keith’s, belly. He seemed perplexed for a moment, stilling his hand on the belly. After a moment of just standing here, he looked with wide eyes over at Keith. Keith just sent him a smug look, and wow, that was strange seeing someone else do with his face. 

 

They all gathered by the dining table, except Hunk who had decided he wanted to cook them something. A moment went by before Coran couldn’t contain his curious nature any longer and joined Hunk in the kitchen. 

 

Keith and Lance both tested out each other’s bodies. They stretched out legs, and arms, clenching and unclenching fists, blinking and testing the jaw flexibility. Pidge stared at them in wide eyed wonder coupled with amusement. Allura and Shiro watched them as well, unable to stifle their curiosity. 

 

When Hunk and Coran reemerged from the kitchen, the red and blue paladin immediately looked up at the food. It was clear how hungry they were when both their stomachs growled at the sight of the food. 

 

Lance in Keith’s body threw himself over the food once it was served, while Keith worked a bit more slowly despite the hunger in his eyes. 

 

A moment after Lance had wolfed down his food, he groaned and clutched his stomach. 

 

Keith looked up at him in confusion before it morphed into understanding and something looking like sympathy. 

 

“Lance… you should maybe consider slowing down. My body’s not used to eating so much so fast,” he sounded sheepish and looked like he regretted not telling Lance sooner. 

 

“Why do you only say this now?” Lance groaned and thumped his head against the table. 

 

“I didn’t think it would be a problem,” 

 

They were both quiet for a while.

 

“We might need to think more about what we do with each other’s bodies,” Lance spoke up.

 

“Yeah,” was the simple reply from Keith. 

 

The others were still staring at them, eating their food as if it was snacks in a movie theatre. 

 

Keith sent them a glare. Lance’s head was turned away from them as he lay over the table. It was such a strange thing to see that glare on Lance’s face. It was so Keith, all the while being with Lance’s features. 

 

Once Lance had recovered from eating too fast, they all moved to the lounge area and sat down in the circular sofa. Both Keith and Lance subtly moved an arm or a leg, testing out the body and marveling at the strange feeling of being in another’s body. 

 

“Hey Keith, what did you mean when you said you’re not used to eating much food?” Lance wondered aloud, looking up at him. He momentarily blanched as he met his own face looking back at him. He would never get used to this. 

 

Keith shrugged.

 

“I lived alone in a desert, remember? Didn’t really have the money to buy much, and there wasn’t a lot to find out there either,” he didn’t look bothered by this at all. It was just a fact of his life, nothing he wanted sympathy for. Still, Lance couldn’t help the surge of feelings welling up inside him. He felt the need to make sure Keith ate well, and he felt like protecting the other guy even though he knew how well he could protect himself. 

 

“Oh,” was all he managed to say. 

 

Coran had vanished without them noticing anything until he came back with a strange instrument. He came over to Keith, holding it against his head. Keith reacted in defence and moved away from the thing in a flash, attempting to subdue Coran. The unfamiliar body made him stumble and in the end he ended up on top of Lance instead. 

 

Coran blinked and after a moment he remembered why he had retrieved the instrument in the first place.

 

“Ah! Apologies! This is a scanner meant to figure out what’s wrong with you. Nothing dangerous!” he looked proud as he said this. He moved the scanner closer to them again, ignoring the suspicious look Keith sent him. 

  
  


“I’ll go first,” Lance commented. He casually pushed Keith up in a sitting position, and readied himself so Coran could scan him. This way, Keith would know there was no danger. Even though he already knew that.

 

Coran placed the scanner against his head and and started it up. It made a curious whirring noise, and it sounded remarkably old compared to everything else in the castle. 

 

It was a slow process, as well. Coran fiddled with it and waited for the scanner to finish, and Lance got increasingly fidgety as he waited. He jumped at the loud ding as the scanner finished, and was on his feet immediately, moving away from it just for the sake of moving. 

 

Keith gave him a strange look. Lance just shrugged and started stretching just so he had something to do with himself. He marveled at how Keith’s muscles worked. He felt the power in them and could feel how much work the other had put into his training. 

 

Then it was Keith’s turn to be scanned. He stiffened as Coran placed the scanner against his head. He, too, got impatient, and struggled to sit still while the scanner worked. 

 

At the ping, he rose and went to Lance. 

 

“Let’s do some training,” he muttered and stalked past Lance towards the training deck. 

 

The others watched in curiosity as the two went to the training deck together. Pidge casually rose to follow them, but was pulled back down by Hunk. 

 

“Let them have a moment,” Hunk said with a calm expression. Usually he would be all for spying on them as his curiosity never seemed to be satisfied.

 

Pidge deflated and glared at him until he casually produced a tablet from behind him and handed it over. The green paladin blinked down at it and looked up at her teammate again. This time he was looking at her with a grin on his face, and she instantly understood what he wanted her to do. 

 

She grabbed the tablet, her fingers flying across the screen so fast, it was a wonder how she managed to hit the correct buttons. Soon, the camera feed from the training deck was pulled up on the screen, and the two of them hunkered over the small image, watching as Lance and Keith entered it. 

 

Keith had grabbed his bayard on the way, and once he was far enough into the room, he called out for training sequence three. 

 

“Uhh buddy? Don’t you think you should start easy? You know, being in a new body and all,” Lance called out nervously. 

 

Keith, of course, ignored him. He readied himself in his usual stand, bayard held up and ready for action, waiting for Keith to activate it. 

 

Lance watched with a surreal feeling in his gut as he saw his own body readying for a fight in front of him.

 

The robot fell to the floor, ready to attack, and Keith activated his bayard, ready to swing it at the charging figure.

 

Several things happened at once. 

 

The robot swung it’s staff at Keith, barely missing hitting his head as Keith stumbled to the floor in pure shock. 

 

His bayard had first transformed into the sword he was used to, but then it seemed to glitch and switch over to Lance’s gun, which overbalanced Keith. Then, it glitched several times over, switching between the two weapons and pulling Keith to the floor. 

 

Lance was frozen in surprise, and only after the robot had turned on its heel to slam the staff downwards to the boy on the floor did he shake himself and call for the end of the training sequence. 

 

He ran over to check on Keith and stared dumbfoundedly at the bayard still in Keith’s hand. The red paladin had his eyes glued to the bayard as well, and there seemed to be a hundred questions running through his mind at once. 

 

The bayard had stopped glitching, and was now frozen in some sort of middle ground. Half gun. Half sword. And not in a cool, usable way. No. It was a purely chaotic mix of the two weapons, making it useless. 

 

It was as though someone had tried to make a weapon that would function as both a sword and a rifle, giving the gun unnecessary sharp edges that would cut into your fingers if you tried to steady it. There was also the fact that the sharp tip of the sword was slicing through the muzzle of the gun, making it unable to shoot straight or perhaps shoot at all. There was also the fact of there being no trigger, and the weapon being far too unbalanced to be used as a sword or knife or the like. 

 

“What…?” was all Lance was able to utter. Keith just blinked at the mess of a weapon in response.

 

Back in the common area, Hunk and Pidge were blinking at the video feed before both of them erupted into booming laughter. Hunk slid to the floor, while Pidge doubled over herself. Both had tears streaming down their faces, and Shiro, Allura, and Coran stared at them in bewilderment.

 

Shiro moved over to them to see what they had been watching, and blinked at the screen showing the strange scene of Lance and Keith. 

 

“Uuhh… Coran?” he didn’t manage to say anything else as his brain struggled to catch up to what his eyes told him.

 

Coran and Allura both came over to see what was going on. 

 

“Interesting,” the Altean commented while he stroked his mustache. Allura looked like she was trying to figure out the reason for why the bayard looked like that. 

 

“Okay, okay, so the bayards are different for every paladin, right? Well, Keith is currently two paladins at once. He’s himself but in Lance’s body, and it must be affecting the bayard. It was glitching back and forth a bunch of times before it finally settled on that thing right there,” Pidge commented once she gathered herself.

 

“That… makes sense,” Allura hummed as she watched the screen. 

 

They all turned back to the screen when they realized Lance and Keith were moving. 

 

Lance reached out a hand to help Keith up from the floor. Keith blinked at it for a moment, before he took it and hoisted himself up. The bayard was extra heavy as it was two weapons combined, and it took some effort to lift it without grabbing onto the sharp edges of it. 

 

“Here, let me try,” Lance reached out for the bayard and wrapped his fingers around the handle. The weapon vanished as Keith let go. 

 

He was momentarily distracted by the hair that fell into his eyes, and looked up to brush it away as his gun materialized in his hand. Without him touching the trigger, the weapon activated, and Lance whipped around to look wide eyed at the gun as a purple blast fired from the muzzle. 

 

Keith just barely managed to throw himself to the floor to avoid being burnt to a crisp. He wasn’t fast enough to completely avoid it, though. He groaned as he clutched his upper arm.

 

“Keith!” Lance let go of the bayard and fell to his knees beside his friend.

 

“Are you trying to kill me?!” Keith bit out through clenched teeth.

 

“While you’re in MY body?! Have you lost your mind?!” Lance shot back.

 

“Well you seem to have no trouble maneuvering my body, so who knows? Maybe you want to stay like that!” Keith hissed back. He looked up just in time to see the discarded bayard glitch back and forth between the strange gun and a purple version of his sword before it activated again, now pointed towards the both of them.  His eyes widened and he grabbed onto Lance. “Look out!”  he yelled as he pulled Lance away just in time to avoid the blast.

 

They both laid staring at the bayard as it glitched again before shutting down and dematerializing the weapon. 

 

Moments later, Shiro and the others came barreling through the door with concern written all over their faces. 

 

“Are you alright?” Shiro went to his knees beside the red and blue paladins, looking them over. 

 

“Yeah,” Lance breathed as he continued to stare at the discarded bayard.

 

“La- err.. Keith..? Let me look at that,” Shiro gestured towards the burn that was shielded from from him by Keith’s hand.

 

Keith looked down at the wound and dazedly turned it towards his leader. It brought Lance’s attention over to him, and he winced at the sight. He reached over to touch the arm beneath the wound, and bit his lip as he thought of how it was his fault Keith was hurt. 

 

When he looked up, he startled again as he looked into his own eyes, and then he froze up as he realized he had basically hurt  _ himself _ . His brain felt like it short circuited at the thought.

 

“Come on you two. Let’s get you out of here. Keith, you’re coming with me to get that arm treated. Lance, go get some rest. Everyone else, too.  _ Rest _ ,” Shiro sent everyone pointed looks before he helped the two paladins to their feet and lead Keith from the training deck.

 

Lance was glad Shiro took it upon himself to treat Keith’s wound. Maybe he could stop feeling guilty about hurting him if he didn’t see it anymore. Also, he really needed a nap.

 

“I’ll be in my room,” Lance said nonchalantly, and strode from the room. 

 

The others stared at him, still not used to seeing Keith’s body do Lance’s mannerisms. It just felt so wrong. They needed to fix this. Soon. 

  
  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  


Lance felt groggy and heavy as he opened his eyes. He rolled on the bed, pulling the covers tighter around himself as he slowly made his way back to the conscious world. He moved his legs up closer to his upper body and felt how fabric tightened around his legs. He frowned and looked down on himself, then realized he was fully dressed. His frown deepened as he took in the color of the clothing, and when he moved his hand up to rub the sleepiness from his eyes, he discovered the pale color of his fingers. 

 

Lance shot up into a sitting position, his heart racing as he stared at his hands and body. For a terrifying moment he had no memories of what had happened and was very close to screaming when he finally remembered. He and Keith switched bodies. Right.

 

Breathing deeply, he worked on calming himself. Once he was relatively certain his heart wasn’t about to jump out of his chest, he got up to go to the bathroom. His skincare routine always served to calm him down. 

 

Lance stepped up to the mirror and let out a chuckle at the crazy behead he found himself looking at. He tried to ignore the blush he felt creeping up his neck as he heard himself laugh. It was Keith’s voice, and he was not used to the other laughing. He cleared his voice and lazily combed his fingers through the thick black hair. 

 

Once he was satisfied, an idea struck him. He grinned mischievously, and schooled his face into his usual flirty smirk, then put up some fingerguns.

 

“Are you trash? ‘Cause I care about the environment, and I’d love to take you out,” he finished with a winning smile.

 

As he saw Keith’s face in his mirror, he choked on his own smile, and saw how red he ended up looking, absolutely flustered from it all. He stared wide eyed at his reflection, feeling his heart racing and his skin heating up.

 

Lance spun around, his back facing the mirror as he gasped. 

 

Oh no. Oh quiznack, he was screwed. 

 

He determinedly did not look in the mirror again as he turned and found the headband he usually used to hold back his short hair. He would definitely need it now, he thought as he put it on and bent down to wash his face. He cleaned up carefully before picking up his facial mask and started applying it to his-  _ Keith’s _ \- face.

 

He went back into his room and laid down on his bed for a relaxing half hour while waiting for the mask to do its wonders. 

 

His thoughts wandered as he lay there. He replayed how he’d seen the grenade-like bomb land on the ground beside them, and how his only thought had been to get Keith away from the blast. He hadn’t even thought of himself at all in that moment. His only priority had been to get his friend out of there. Get him to safety. He hadn’t succeeded, but what would have happened if he had? If he had managed to push Keith away from the blast in time? Would he have switched bodies with a Galra? Would he have been killed? He shuddered at the thought. He hoped they would get their own bodies back soon. He didn’t even know how it was possible to switch bodies like this. Magic? It must have been. He couldn’t figure out any other explanation. Allura might be the only one who could help them, then. He hoped she would find a solution soon. 

 

Tired of lying around, Lance decided to do some stretching. He soon realized Keith’s body was not as flexible as his own, but it would do. He lifted one leg up to place it on the wall, and leaned on it for a few moments before switching. Then, he bent down to touch his toes. Working through different kinds of stretches made time pass by in a blur, and soon, his timer went off. 

 

Cleaning off the mask with warm water always was a good feeling to him. He felt relaxed and calm, and not to mention fresh. 

 

He straightened his back and looked into the mirror to take in how glowy Keith’s skin looked. Even though Lance always mocked him for not taking care of his skin, Keith actually had a beautifully smooth skin. Sure, it could do with some moisturizing, but it really wasn’t as bad as Lance thought.

 

His eyes trailed over Keith’s face, marveling at how good he looked even with his hair pulled away. It was not fair. How could he look so good all the time- wait, what was  _ that? _

 

Lance stared at Keith’s nose. His eyes widened as he finally realized what he was looking at. 

 

Freckles. Keith had  _ freckles!  _ Those had definitely not been there, before. He would have  _ known _ . He absolutely  _ adored _ freckles. He always found them truly beautiful and could gaze at them for eternity. It sounded cheesy, but he actually found them more beautiful than the stars. And  _ Keith _ had them.

 

They dusted his nose and ran lightly across his cheeks just under his eyes. They didn’t go all over his face like they so often did. But somehow that made it all the more adorable. 

 

Lance squealed. It sounded so strange in Keith’s voice but he didn’t care. He bolted from the room, running over to Keith’s door, banging on it in excitement.

 

A moment passed before he saw his own groggy face look back at him from the newly opened door. 

 

“YOU HAVE FRECKLES???!!!” Lance screeched with a gigantic grin on his face.

 

Keith visibly jumped at the shriek and blinked in confusion at his own face. Then things seemed to fall into place in his head, and he realized what was going on. He stared in utter horror at Lance’s- his own- nose in frozen shock before grabbing Lance by the shirt, pulling him inside the room, and slamming the panel to close the door. 

 

Lance stared at him in mild shock, while Keith held his breath. 

 

“Did you really have to shout that???” the red paladin blew the words from his mouth.

 

“Wait, are you ashamed of- OH! That’s why I never saw them! You’ve been covering them up!” Lance gaped at him and saw how a blush ran across Keith’s cheeks. 

 

“How could you do that??? They are gorgeous! You look so good with them!” he gushed before he could catch himself. He turned beet red as he realized what he’d said and clamped his mouth shut. 

 

They both stared at the floor, wild blushes raging on their faces in the awkward silence between them. 

 

Lance cleared his throat and looked up at Keith, again. He narrowed his eyes at him.

 

“You need a facemask. Come here,” he ordered, and dragged a reluctant Keith after him down the hall back to his own room. He placed the other on the floor and went to gather his things. He came back with his arms full of rags, bottles and a bowl of water. He carefully put everything on the floor and plopped down in a cross-legged position right in front of Keith. 

 

Lance wiped the warm wet rag over Keith’s- his- face and proceeded to gently apply the mask with a soft brush. Keith was rigid and stared at Lance as he worked, until the blue paladin realized how awkward Keith was.

 

“Hey, relax and close your eyes. Not gonna bite,” he grinned. Keith narrowed his eyes at him, but did as he said. 

 

Keith was still pretty rigid, but as the time passed, he slowly relaxed. 

 

“There! Now you just have to keep this on for half an hour, then we can wash it off.” 

 

“30 minutes??” Keith’s eyes flew up to stare at Lance. 

 

“Yeah! It’s relaxing!” Lance grinned. 

 

“And what am I supposed to do for 30 minutes?” 

 

Lance faltered and narrowed his eyes at Keith. 

 

“You’re supposed to relax. Lay down and take a nap or whatever,” Lance got up and pulled his pillow from the bed and threw it down on the floor. He grabbed Keith’s shoulders and pulled him down to lie on the floor, his head resting on the fluffy pillow.

 

Keith blinked up at him, not having been prepared for the sudden manhandling. Lance just grinned down at him before he sat down with his back resting against his bed. 

 

Silence wrapped around them. It wasn’t the awkward kind that they had problems with before. No, it was strangely relaxing. Lance watched as Keith finally let himself go lax. His eyes closed, and soon it looked like the other had actually fallen asleep. 

 

Lance couldn’t wait to get back in his own body and have Keith do this, again. Then he could stare at the real Keith and marvel at his beauty. Not that Lance’s body wasn’t beautiful. Hell yeah, he was! It was just strange seeing your own body from afar. It felt wrong. And it fucked with your head. It was like you don’t really exist anymore. 

 

“Do you think we’ll be back to normal, soon?”

 

Lance jumped at Keith’s question. He thought he was sleeping!

 

“Yeah, if anyone can get us back to our own bodies, it’s our friends,” he replied confidently. Keith hummed in response. 

 

“Hey, Lance? Do you feel weird? And I don’t mean in a different body kinda weird. I mean... do you feel slightly sick?” 

 

Lance was quiet for a moment, trying to see if he felt any different. 

 

“I don’t know. I don’t think so?” Lance looked at the timer and realized it was time to wash off the mask. Keith didn’t say anything more, and so Lance made his way over to him. “Come on. Let’s get that off your face,” Lance helped Keith to his feet and had him wash his face with warm water in the bathroom. Keith looked dazed afterwards, and he finally looked relaxed. 

 

They both made their way out of Lance’s room, heading for the kitchen.

  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  


Just as they were halfway through their bowls of food goo, the alarms sounded through the castle. 

 

The two paladins shot to their feet and ran to their armor, dressing up as fast as they managed before bolting towards the control room. 

 

They ended up arriving at the same time as the others, and found Allura and Coran navigating the system.

 

“There’s a fleet of Galra headed towards us. They’re not big enough to need Voltron, but we need to be careful nonetheless,” she commanded. 

 

Turning to the paladins, she faltered at the sight of Lance and Keith. The others turned towards them as well, and froze up. 

 

The two paladins looked at them in confusion, before looking at each other. 

 

Oh. 

 

Lance, in Keith’s body, was wearing the blue paladin armour. They did know the two had switched bodies, but it was still a shock to see the wrong armour with the wrong face. 

 

“Err… considering the bayards, is this gonna be safe? I mean, what if the lions start glitching? What if it’s the bodies they need, not the minds? What if it’s some kinda blood magic, I don’t know about magic bonds and how they work exactly, I mean I have theories but I don’t know for sure, and what if the lions start attacking  _ us _ instead of the enemy???” Hunk was the first to break the silence. And he had a point. What if the lions started glitching, too?

 

“We could try to switch lions?” Keith suggested.

 

“I mean Red is super nice, but Blue’s my babe, and don’t you dare take her away from me,” Lance burst out. 

 

“I am not saying we’re switching lions for good. I’m saying we should try do it now because we’re in the wrong body,” Keith shot back. 

 

“Paladins! That’s enough!” Allura stood tall before them, staring them down. “The lions have a bond with you through the mind. I do not know if this situation is interfering with that bond. Perhaps switching lions would not be such a bad idea to try out. The other lions will start the fight without you should there be any problems,” 

 

They did as they were told. Lance made his way to Red, while Keith went to Blue. 

 

Keith arrived in the hangar, nervous about not being let in. He went up to Blue and was surprised that she let down her particle barrier. She opened up to him and let him inside. Once he sat down, he was assaulted with all kinds of images running through his brain. Most of it boiled down to excitement, and the colors of red and blue merging into purple. He felt like he was seeing an excited dog wagging it’s tail so hard it ended up moving it’s whole body with it. 

 

“Woah! Blue! Calm down!” the moment he said this, the images slowed down. Keith now wished they hadn’t, because now he could see what she was trying to feed into his brain. 

 

There were images of him and Lance. Of them hugging. And holding hands. And kissing. And other unspeakable things. And in all of them, their two colors merged into one, becoming purple. 

 

The excitement was still in the back of his mind. It had not died down at all, even when Keith tried to explain through the bond that he doubted this would ever happen. Lance only flirted with girls. Blue ignored him. She kept insisting on the purple part. 

 

The machines lit up, and Keith didn’t even have to touch the controls before Blue got to her feet and danced around on the spot.

 

Keith grabbed the controls and realized how different it all was compared to Red, no matter how much alike they looked. This was going to be difficult. 

 

Over in Red’s hangar, things went much differently. Lance sauntered over to Red, waving up at her. 

 

“Hi Red! Mind letting me in?” He grinned widely at her as she let down her barrier and bent down to let him in. “How’s my Red beauty doing?” he queried as he gently patted her metal. 

 

She sent images through his brain that told him she was doing fine. She was struggling with taking care of her cub, but she trusted him to help.

 

“I’m doing my best, babe. He’s a difficult cub, indeed,” he snickered. Red made the impression of laughing with him. “So! Got any gossip for me?” he asked excitedly as he sat down in the pilot chair. Red got to her feet and readied herself for takeoff. Lance took the controls, reveling at how powerful and fast she felt. As they shot out from the hangar, she sent images through his mind of what the lions had been talking about, and the fun things that had been going on without Lance noticing. He laughed out loud at the gossip. He loved Red. She was a delight. They made great friends, though they were both very clear on where they belonged. Neither wanted to change that. 

 

It was thrilling to pilot Red. She was incredibly fast and agile, and moved in such a different way from Blue. Lance whooped out loud as the comms connected, and the others could do nothing but laugh. Except for Keith.

 

“How are you able to get into that so fast?” he sounded exasperated over the comms. Not only had he trouble coordinating Lance’s body, he also had the same problem with his lion. She was so full of playfulness, he didn’t know how to work with it. With Red it was all power and speed and agility. 

 

“Red just loves me,” came the cocky reply. A surge of love and happiness welled through Keith’s mind as the Blue lion reacted to Lance’s words. Even if it was Keith’s voice, she recognized him through the bond. Keith would have thought there would be at least some form of jealousy there, but there was none. Blue must have realized what he was thinking because soon after she educated him on trust and strength of the bond. She trusted Lance with everything she had. She knew he loved her and would not leave her. Keith was impressed. He’d need to learn from Lance. 

 

“Guys, not to ruin the fun, but we really should concentrate on the Galra fleet coming towards us,” Hunk interjected. 

 

A wave of seriousness flowed through the bond, and they all readied themselves. It was strange to pilot a new lion and thus being somewhere else than where you were used to being in battle. Keith struggled slightly with the piloting of Blue, and wasn’t able to work as smoothly as usual. But they all managed to do fine in the battle. There were no major hiccups and they ended up finishing the fight in no time. 

 

Despite Blue being a powerful and good creature, Keith desperately wanted Red back. And his body. Now. 

 

Once they were back in the hangars, Keith made his way to Red. He got there just as Lance waved goodbye to the red lion, throwing out a “bye babe,” before making his way past Keith with a wink and a big grin. 

 

Keith stalked right up to Red, and sat down in the pilot seat. 

 

“Welcome back, blue paladin,” was what he heard through the bond and he groaned. He could hear the joking tilt and knew she was aware of the situation. When she too started up with the purple nonsense and showed him more graphic images than blue, with a few of Lance’s pet names and pickup lines thrown in there, Keith decided the lions were ganging up on him. He stalked out of there, red faced and heart pounding, hearing Red’s laughter through the bond as he made his way to his room. Red knew what he felt about Lance. She’d listened to him complain about it, before. He had been hoping to do that now, but that wasn’t gonna happen apparently. 

 

To be honest he wasn’t really surprised Lance was able to befriend Red that fast. He was such a friendly soul at heart. Keith had seen it, but he wanted to see more. So much more.

 

His whole body was warm from the giant blush. He escaped to his room, pulling off his armour and splashing his face with cold water. 

 

He did the mistake of looking into the mirror, and saw Lance’s face staring back at him, a blush coloring the cheeks, and water rolling down his smooth skin. He whimpered and abandoned the mirror in favour of a towel to dry up. 

 

They needed to fix this. 

 

Keith decided he needed to talk to Allura and Coran. 

 

That was easier said than done. As Keith made his way into the hall, it felt like the ship was swaying. It was as if the castle was sailing on a sea of waves, and it made the red paladin uncomfortable. 

 

As he neared the control room, it was getting increasingly harder to keep himself upright. He used the walls as support, and managed to drag himself through the door to the control centre. 

 

“Why is the ship swaying so much?” he asked before looking up. He was met with confused glances from not only Allura and Coran, but the others on the team too. Shiro turned to face him properly, looking very concerned. 

 

“Keith?” Shiro stepped towards him. It was clear to Keith that his leader did not have any problems with his balance, meaning it was something wrong with him. Now that he thought about it, the heat from the blush seemed to have gotten worse. He reached up to touch his forehead and felt pain radiate through his entire body from simply touching his head. Letting out a groan, he secured his grip on the doorway to keep himself upright.

 

He looked in the direction of the other groan, and saw Lance reach up to touch his head. Before his hand reached it’s destination, the boy crashed to the floor without warning.

 

“Lance!” Hunk let out a startled yell. Keith had tried calling out as well, but found himself unable to do much of anything. He watched Hunk kneel by Lance’s side, touching him carefully before his eyes widened in shock.

 

“He’s burning up!” Hunk gently lifted Lance from the floor, ready to rush him to the pods. 

 

Keith had only the barest feeling of going numb before he collapsed to the floor himself. Or, he would have, if Shiro hadn’t reacted as fast as he did. 

 

“This is bad,” the black paladin’s voice was filled with worry. Keith looked blearily up at him, unable to move his body, or even say anything. All he could do was breathe, and even that was a struggle at this point. 

 

Shiro wrapped his arms under Keith’s body, lifting him from the ground. He could see the older man was talking, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. He just felt the pain coursing through his body at every touch. The heat was unbearable, and something was tightening around his chest. It was so hard to breathe….  

  
  
  
  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  
  
  
  


Coran bolted down the halls ahead of Shiro and Hunk. He immediately set up two pods for the fallen comrades, and moved to the side just in time for Shiro and Hunk to place the two paladins in a pod each. 

 

Pidge and Allura came running just as the pods closed up. 

 

“What’s going on?” Pidge asked.There was a slight tremble to her voice. She usually had no trouble dealing with the dangers they faced, but losing someone was her biggest fear. And right now, it seemed they were in danger of losing two of their teammates. She was not taking this well.

 

They all stared at their friends in the pods.

 

An alarm went off, and Coran whipped out his pad to go over the security. He looked up to them with wide eyes.

 

“The red and blue lions are going crazy in their bays,” he uttered as he sent Allura a concerned look. 

 

Red blinking lights and a blaring, ear piercing sound in the room made them jump and immediately take defensive stances.

 

Coran reacted fast, catching Lance as he fell out of the pod. Keith almost hit the floor before Hunk reached him. Even the cold of the pods had not reduced their heat, and as Shiro took hold of Lance, Allura and Coran immediately started checking scans from the pods. 

 

Hunk and Shiro held the two paladins close while they waited for an explanation. They could see the Alteans were working hard to find out what had happened. Pidge was frozen in place as she stared at her friends. She was getting dangerously pale. Everything was happening so fast, she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Normal sickness didn’t act like this, did it? Besides, it only affected the two of them. At least so far. Did this have to do with the mindswap? 

 

A whimper left Keith’s mouth, and everyone’s attention was on him in an instant. Except for Coran and Allura who could not afford any distractions as they needed to figure out what was going on.

 

“No  pods… makes it worse…” he gasped. “Red is screaming… Blue, too… she can’t get through… to him,” Keith heaved for breath. It was hard to speak. But he had to get it out. Had to let them know. “Lance,” he whispered as an afterthought. 

 

“He’s not breathing!” Hunk yelled out from beside Shiro. The leader looked back at his panicking teammate and lowered Keith carefully to the floor. He moved over to help Hunk with Lance, checking their friend for any signs of life before taking him from Hunk’s arms to place him on the floor. He moved Lance’s head back to open his airways. It seemed to do the trick for now, but the shallow breathing was not a good one. 

 

Shiro looked over at Keith, seeing how he was turned towards Lance with tears rolling down his face. He wasn’t sure if it was from the pain they no doubt were experiencing or if it was from worrying about Lance. 

 

“He’s breathing, for now. Let him stay like this. Make sure his airways are open, and keep an eye on him,” Shiro commanded and moved over to Keith who had started gasping again. He helped him move his head back, mirroring Lance. Keith’s eyes slid shut with another whimper.

 

“Coran, do you have anything that can help them with their breathing?” he asked and looked up to the man in question. 

 

Coran looked at him, then back at the pod readings before saying something in rapid Altean to the Princess, and moving out of sight for a moment. When he came back, he had a pair of masks in his hands. They were connected to a cylinder with a screen, which Coran tapped on with hurried movements. He handed one to Shiro and one to Hunk. 

 

“Place the masks over their mouth and nose. They’re ready with oxygen,” he said in a very serious tone before going back to the Princess. 

 

A strained silence enveloped the medical bay. Pidge had vanished while Shiro had been busy with Lance. He was worried about her, but he knew he needed to stay. He made a mental note that he would go find her as soon as he could. 

 

Just as he thought this, she came back into the room, her arms filled with towels and bowls of water floating in beside her on the floating trays. 

 

She put the bowls between her friends, and soaked the towels in them. She proceeded to place them in strategic spots on Lance and Keith’s bodies. On their foreheads, in their armpits, and around their wrists. She hesitated before pulling their shoes off to place towels on their feet as well. 

 

“We have to try get their temperature down, or else they’ll boil in their own bodies,” she muttered. She moved away from them, leaning up against a wall and clutched her arms around her feet as she kept her eyes on them. 

 

Moments passed before Allura approached them with an unreadable expression on her face.

 

“Paladins,” she hesitated a moment, which was uncommon for her. “This is no ordinary sickness. It is from magical origin, and the same magic that was used in the mindswap. The only solution is magic… though I don’t know how,” she looked at the floor as she uttered the last words. They all knew without a doubt that they didn’t have much time left. And the only source of magic they had was unable to do anything because she didn’t know what to do.

 

“There has to be something you can do?” Pidge spoke out, staring at the Princess with a pleading look. She sat up, ready to do anything to help their friends. 

 

“I’m afraid not. I will look through the archives, but we do not have much time left,” she replied solemnly. 

 

Pidge looked angry. Outright angry. She got up from her spo and left the medical bay. The others could do nothing but watch as she stormed out of there. 

 

Coran touched Allura’s shoulder to get her attention, and handed her one of his tablets. She took it with a nod and pulled up the holo screen. She tapped in a few words in Altean, watching the screen intently as text upon text scrolled over it. 

 

Hunk checked the wet towels, deciding they needed to be changed. He pulled them out and dunked them in the cold water bowls again, silently thanking the Alteans for the geniousness of their technology that kept the water as cold as it could be.

 

Both Keith and Lance was still overheated by the horrible fever. It would be a great understatement to say he was worried for their internal organs, and them in general. Their skin was so much warmer than human skin should be. It was frightening to say the least. 

 

All they could do now was wait, and hope for Allura to find a cure.

  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  
  


Pidge refused to accept that there was nothing to be done. Her knowledge of Altean and Galran was still limited, but she intended to use whatever she knew, and even learn new things if necessary. She was going to do everything in her power to help her friends. She refused to lose more family. And this time they would be lost forever if she didn’t do something. That was unacceptable. 

 

The green paladin pulled up every system she had available. She intensified the search she had started after they had discovered the body swap. This time she included the sudden sickness, and in addition started looking at weapons the Galra had developed. 

 

She somehow found her way into a new system she had not been in before. As she was snooping around, she recognised a few words here and there. She pulled up the translation programme she’d made and ran some of the text through it.

 

“Highly deadly magic”, “torture”, ”bomb”, “unstable” was among the results. Turned out it was an old report on an experimental bomb with dark magic. A magic that was highly deadly, but reacted differently each time it was cast. Some died immediately. Some went unscathed for days until they suddenly fell sick and died. Some were tortured for days to weeks before succumbing. The bomb made the magic all the more unstable. The victims had experienced very different symptoms, making it practically impossible for the comrades to do anything. There had been instances of bodyparts switching between hosts, morphing into one person, or even outright body swapping if two or more were hit with the same bomb. It also depended on how close the victim was to the bomb, itself. There was a very low survival rate. The only recorded survivors had by pure chance come upon the correct cure for the curse. It was an effective weapon, but as it was as unstable as it was, the project had been scrapped. Too many of their own had been taken down by it. They had tried having slaves work on the weapons but ultimately it had been deemed too unstable to be effective.

 

Pidge felt sick to her stomach. This was among the ugliest weapons she had  ever read about. And she was pretty sure this might be it. Unless the Galra had made another weapon that worked practically the same way. 

 

She took her computer and made for the medical bay immediately. 

 

The scene that met her was straight from a nightmare. Shiro was kneeling above Lance in Keith’s body, doing compressions on his chest. 

 

Keith in Lance’s body was vomiting what looked like blood.    
  
Coran was doing his best to care for Keith, Allura was stuck between looking for a solution and helping them there and then. Hunk was doing his best to help but was deep in a panicked breakdown. 

 

Pidge swallowed, then took a deep breath before rushing over to Allura. She showed her the screen and saw how her eyes widened in horror. She looked up at Pidge, her mouth set in a firm line. 

 

“I should have realized this sooner. My father once spoke of a weapon like this. Let’s hope I remember this correctly,” Allura turned to the others just as Shiro stopped his compressions with a relieved sigh on his lips. 

 

Pidge’s heart leapt into her throat for a moment but then she realized he didn’t look full of grief. Lance wasn’t dead yet, then. 

 

“Please, everyone step away. Thanks to Pidge, we may have found a cure, but I need everyone to leave the room,” the Princess ordered. “Now. we have little time left,” she added at the hesitation from the others. 

 

Shiro gave a firm nod before guiding his team mates out. Coran followed after confirming there was nothing he could do to help. 

 

Princess Allura knelt on the floor between the two paladins and touched a hand each to their foreheads. 

 

She had watched her father perform this spell. She had also tried it once herself for practise. 

 

She had not told the others about the risks to this spell. But she knew this was their last chance. Lance had already been collapsing, and wouldn’t have more than mere minutes left. Keith was not far behind. She prayed for this to be the correct cure. The spell was… it lead to death if it turned out to be the wrong spell to use. It was a powerful cure, but only to a select few curses. Last time she had cast it… it didn’t end well. In addition to her patients dying, she had been bedridden for weeks. 

 

Taking a deep breath, she let her magic flow through both her arms. She hoped that by performing this on the two of them at the same time, their minds would return to their own bodies at the end of the process. If this was the correct cure that is.

 

Light erupted from her fingers, enveloping the two Paladins.

 

She felt herself being drained bit by bit, the fear of failure threatening to take over. She bit the inside of her cheek, forcing herself to fight it. She needed to do this for her paladins. For her friends. She had no choice but to proceed. She had time for worry later. Right now all she could do was fight. Fight the dark sickness threatening to take her friends away. Fight the fear. 

 

She felt like she was flying through silver clouds in a dark blue sky. She was surrounded by the soft silver on all sides. Even if she didn’t move, she felt as though she was flying fast through the clouds. 

 

Darkness. A whole different kind of darkness than the sky around her. Dark purple, almost black welled towards her like ink in water. 

  
  
  


 

She did not remember this ever happening last time, and was momentarily at a loss of what to do. 

 

The darkness did not slow down. 

 

It felt slimy as it wrapped around her, soaking her dress completely and clinging to her hair. It felt like it tried to invade her skin, pressing against her, flowing down her throat. 

 

The pressure increased, crushing her.

 

Except for her hands. The light from her magic pushed the darkness away.  

 

Allura concentrated on pushing her magic out, to envelope the darkness, to make it soak into it and lighten it. 

 

It was a slow process, but it worked. 

 

As she pushed back the giant cloud, slowly cleansing it, she realized there were two weak light sources inside the cloud. Getting closer, she realized they must be Lance and Keith as the lights represented red and blue. They were tainted by the cloud, dimmed and small as they shuddered in the dark. 

 

Allura reached out once she was close enough, wrapping her arms protectively around them, pushing out her magic with increased force. 

 

The cloud pressed against it, trying to get to her and the lights. 

 

With a frustrated yell, she made her magic flow out like shockwaves from an explosion. 

 

Her return to the medical bay was so sudden and unexpected, her vision blurred, and the castle around her was spinning. She barely caught a glimpse of the boys on the floor before her body collapsed on her. 

 

Her hair obscured her already limited vision as she lay there, feeling her energy drain from her body. This was more familiar to the last time she’d tried this. 

 

The swishing of the door sounded before footsteps approached her in a fast rhythm. 

 

The call of her name was filled with concern and a moment later, strong arms wrapped around her. She felt safe in those arms. But were her friends as safe as her? She opened her mouth to ask, but no sound came. Then, she could not keep herself awake any longer. 

  
  
  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  
  
  
  


“Coran?” 

 

The Altean turned around to look at Shiro as he approached. Shiro’s eyes were filled with questions which Coran was happy he had an answer to.

 

“They will all be up and about in no time!” he announced with a big smile on his face, gesturing to the cots around him.

Lance, Keith and Allura were positioned in a cot each, the pods being unnecessary as the three of them only needed sleep to feel better. The fact that they were all in the medical bay was purely a precaution on Coran’s part, to make absolutely sure they were getting better. 

 

“You may all come in,” he called just a little bit louder as he’d seen the last two paladins hiding in the doorway. 

 

Pidge and Hunk shuffled inside, looking at their friends sleeping peacefully on their beds. 

 

Shiro gently put a hand on their shoulders, looking into each of their faces in turn.

 

“Don’t worry. They’ll be fine,” 

 

None of them left the medical bay. They didn’t want to leave their friends alone after everything that’d happened. 

 

Allura was the first to wake. Other than being weak from her use of magic, she was doing fine. 

 

She was sitting up in her cot, leaning against an excessive amount of pillows. Her hair was a bit of a wild mess, but she had no energy to fix it. 

 

They sat around, talking in murmurs. It was the calmest they had been in very long. No alarms blaring, no training, no running to fix something that was broken. 

 

A groan caught their attention, making their heads snap around to look at Lance’s bed. 

 

A tuft of dark brown hair stuck up from the pillow. For a moment, there was no more sound or movement, before ever so slowly, that head raised with squinting eyes and a frown. 

 

They all held their breaths as they looked at Lance’s face. Was he finally back in his own body, or was it still Keith in there?

 

Lance blinked at them before he sat up properly in the portable bed. He yawned, stretched, and ran his hand through his hair. 

 

He was quite zoned out where he sat with his legs crossed on the bed, his back hunched, hair a mess and the most tired look any of them had seen him wear. He blinked slowly at them, not really focusing at all. 

 

“Lance?” Shiro decided he needed to know. 

 

“Mmmhhh,” Lance’s voice was gravely from sleep. The boy looked at Shiro for a moment. Then it looked like everything came back to him as his eyes widened and he looked down on himself, stretching his arm out in front of him and twisting it while he looked at it.

 

He gaped at it, and back up to the others who he realized were watching him intently. 

 

“I’m back!” he shouted out so suddenly that the others startled. “I’m back in my own body!” he grinned widely at them, his eyes sparkling.

 

The others let out a collective sigh of relief. Smiles and fond looks found themselves on their faces soon after, and Hunk rushed forward to hug his best friend. 

 

They were all laughing, their shoulders finally relaxing from the constant stressed position. 

 

Lance looked at Allura, noticing the tired way she held herself. 

 

“What happened, Princess?” he frowned at her in confusion. She smiled back at him.

 

“She cured you with her magic,” Pidge shot in. “She ended up using too much energy, so we’ll all be resting for a while,” she patted his shoulder and looked over at Allura with an almost stern expression on her face. It was as if she was telling the Princess especially to rest.

 

“I knew you guys would find a way,” he said in a confident drawl, and sent a wink and his signature finger guns in Allura’s direction. 

 

The Princess only rolled her eyes at that. 

 

“So where’s Keith? Already in the training room?” he joked.

 

They all turned to look at the bed behind Lance. Confused, Lance turned to look as well, and found Keith lying completely still on his back, his eyes closed. He was incredibly pale where he lay and for a moment, Lance felt his heart speed up with fright. He looked dead. 

 

“Why is he so pale?” he whispered, the fear obvious in his voice. This made the others react. Shiro was the first to jump into motion, running over to have a look at his friend. Lance was right. He  _ was _ paler than normal. 

 

He immediately reached in to put his fingers to Keith’s pulsepoint. Before he even touched Keith’s skin, he could feel the heat radiating off his skin. Keith was alive, but his body was running a high fever. 

 

“He’s burning up,” he turned to the others with wide eyes. 

 

Coran wasted no time in running diagnostics. Pidge ran off to get cold water, while Hunk retrieved the towels from their earlier attempt at cooling them down.

 

While all this happened, Keith had not moved at all. 

 

Lance watched with his heart in his throat as the others tended to Keith. He remembered how he’d seen Keith lean against the doorway, looking like death, before the overwhelming pain had erupted in his own head. Was Keith not well again after all that? Had he not been cured by Allura’s magic? 

 

Hunk carefully laid the newly rinsed towel over Keith’s forehead. Coran was finishing his scans, and turned to them with a calm look in his eyes. 

 

“Everything will be alright. This is a simple illness, most likely been brought on by lack of sleep and all the stress his body went through. Plenty of bed rest, hydration and nutrition, and he will be back to normal,” 

 

Lance finally relaxed. He ended up having to lay down. It took a lot of energy to be scared for someone.

 

The rest of the day went slowly. They talked in hushed voices and made sure to always keep an eye on Keith. 

 

Other than his breathing sounding strained, there was no change. He didn’t even move.

 

Lance was quieter than normal. He kept watching Keith with a worried pinch to his eyebrows. At some point he’d fallen back asleep, but woke at the tiny whimper coming from the other bed. 

 

He sat up, realizing the others had fallen asleep as well. He looked over at Keith, finding him with a pained expression, tossing his head a bit back and forth. 

 

Lance crawled out of bed, realizing as he put his feet on the floor that this was the first time he attempted to walk after getting back in his own body. It felt strange, but also very familiar. He realized his body was still tired, as his knees shook once he put his weight on his feet. Once he was sure his legs wouldn’t give out on him, he took the towel from where it had fallen down on Keith’s pillow, rinsed it, and put it back on his forehead. The other man was calming down at Lance’s ministrations.

 

Lance found himself unable to keep standing, and sat down on the side of Keith’s bed. He kept his gaze on Keith’s face. Even sick, he looked mesmerizing. It wasn’t fair. 

 

Lance found himself reaching over to brush Keith’s hair away, and the other let out a contented sigh as he finally settled down. It made Lance’s heart soar, and a warmth spread through his chest. 

 

He looked back to his bed, then down on his legs and over at Keith again while biting his lip. 

 

He could lay down here until his legs were rested enough right? Right. He could do that. He just had to get back up and over to his own cot once he was rested. No big deal. No one would notice. 

 

He carefully lied down on his side, watching Keith’s profile. He’d just savour this and then pretend it never happened. Keith wasn’t interested anyway so no use in experiencing that rejection.

 

Lance close his eyes. He just needed to rest them for a moment. No big deal. 

 

Until he fell asleep that was. 

  
  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  
  


Pidge woke from the horrible feeling of falling, and soon realized it was because hunk had turned over, thus making her fall backwards as she’d been leaning on him. She righted her glasses and yawned as she sat up. The others were asleep as well, so she decided it was up to her to check on Keith. 

 

She stood and stretched, popping her back in the process, before making her way over to Keith’s cot. 

 

She froze in her step as she saw Lance wrapped around Keith, with his face buried in Keith’s neck. She would never admit it out loud, but she found the sight sickeningly adorable. She went back to her discarded gear, and picked up the the little pad, brought it over to the two boys and snapped a few pictures.

 

Even though she found it hilarious, it was clear that Keith was calmed by Lance’s presence. She smiled to herself as she watched them. She really hoped they wouldn’t let their prides get in the way once they woke up. It would be such a shame. And annoying. 

 

She made sure the images was saved to one of her secure systems before she put the tablet away. The others really needed to see this as well, so she crept over to them, shaking them and whispering in their ears to wake them. 

 

Shiro startled awake, but calmed immediately when he recognized Pidge. She smiled apologetically at him and pointed at the bed with Keith and Lance. Shiro frowned in confusion and got up to see what she was gesturing at. 

 

A wide smile spread across his face once he realized what was going on. They were incredibly adorable.

 

“Did you take a picture?” he whispered and watched as Pidge nodded with a giant grin on her face. “Good. I’m proud of you,” his own smile turned mischievous. 

 

Hunk was up after a bit of struggling, Coran and Allura was relatively easy to wake. Allura was feeling much better and joined the others in looking at their friends. 

 

They were all wearing expressions of adorations when Keith suddenly blinked his eyes open. He was still feverish and it was clear in his eyes. He looked hazily at them and then realized someone was curled around him. He looked down and smiled dopily and nuzzled into Lance. 

 

Shiro had no idea when Pidge had grabbed her camera again, but the kid was filming while giggling to herself. 

 

Keith sighed contentedly and Shiro’s heart melted. He had never seen Keith like that before. He had too many shields pulled up around himself. True, he had opened more up lately, and was definitely not the same troubled kid he’d met a few years back. But this was the first time Keith had been completely relaxed. He may be sick and not quite in his right mind, but even when sick back on earth he had always kept fighting, always kept up his barriers. Maybe Lance had the ability to draw Keith completely out of his shell?

 

Just as Shiro thought about it, Lance woke up. He blinked in confusion at the black hair his face was buried in, and proceeded to look up and see the team stand around him, looking at him with gleeful faces. His eyes widened and he looked down again to see Keith turn his head to look Lance in the eye with a dopey smile on his face and gods help him he was screwed. He felt his face heat up and heard the others coo. He swallowed hard. He could not look away from Keith. Oh Quiznacks help him. 

 

Keith fell asleep. 

 

Keith actually fell asleep. Just like that. Okay yeah he was still sick. But really??? In the middle of Lance’s crisis??? Leaving him alone like that?! How dared he! 

 

Lance looked so offended about Keith falling asleep, that the others could not stop themselves from laughing. Pidge was over the moon for getting it all on tape. She was so showing it to Keith once he got back to himself. 

 

“Let us get some food in you lot, shall we?” Coran broke through everyone’s thoughts and made for the kitchen. Hunk looked around before following the other man to make sure he found something that was actually edible. 

 

Lance looked in their direction found food to be a very good idea. The others finally decided they were done watching his embarrassment and left him alone. All except for Shiro. He was giving him one of those incredibly warm looks with a soft smile on his face. 

 

“You’ve done well Lance. Keep doing whatever you’re doing,” He ruffled Lance’s hair and left the boy alone. 

 

Lance was bewildered. 

 

What did he miss?

  
  
  


**.......::::Voltron::::.......**

  
  
  
  


Lance finally knew how Keith felt when he’d forgotten about their so called bonding moment. Keith had no recollection of their cuddle session, and it was driving Lance insane. 

 

Keith had narrowed his eyes at Lance in confusion when he mentioned it, and had scoffed, telling him to quit joking. 

 

Pidge watched on with a smug expression on her face, delighted to see how this would turn out. But when days passed and the two guys reverted back to their old ways, she realized Keith needed that little push after all. 

 

Shiro agreed. The two of them locked the red and blue paladins in a room with a tablet and told them to watch the video. 

 

Lance froze up, while Keith was curious. His face did that adorable thing where his eyes were big and his eyebrows were lifted and his head slightly tilted to the side like a puzzled kitten. 

 

Lance really could not take this. Keith was too much. 

 

And he had pressed play. 

 

Oh lord have mercy on his soul. 

 

Keith went blank as the video played. 

 

He did not move a muscle once the video ended. He just stared at the same spot, his expression devoid of any emotion. 

 

Lance nervously watched him for a very long time. 

 

“Keith?” he prodded once he could not take the silence any longer. 

 

At the mention of his name, Keith shifted his head down so his hair covered his face. 

 

“Keith, hey, please say something,” Lance chuckled nervously.

 

Lance moved in front of him and bent down to look into Keith’s face. Keith’s head snapped up, revealing the redness to his skin and the wide eyes. 

 

“Oh,” Lance uttered intelligently. 

 

Then, at the exact same time, Red and Blue decided they’d had enough of the two dancing around each other, and fed the image of red and blue light joining as one and creating purple. 

 

“Wait, you actually like me?” Lance asked incredulously. Keith moved his head in the barest of nods. 

 

“Oh… OOOOHHHH!” Lance gaped at him before a smile spread across his face. Keith ended up smiling slowly as well before it evolved into laughter from the both of them. 

 

“Oh wow, this could have gotten somewhere so much sooner, then,” Lance paused, “ because I really like you too,” he added quietly with a small smile.

 

Keith’s smile was blinding. His whole face lit up like the sun.

 

“You should definitely smile more often,” Lance breathed in awe. 

 

Keith’s smile changed into something more subdued. 

 

“I’ll try,” he agreed. 

 

Outside the room, Shiro and Pidge high fived as they shut off the videofeed they’d been watching. It was time to give the two some privacy and a chance to actually realize properly what was happening. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> please, to keep up an artist/author's motivation, please leave comments on their work and go reblog their art on tumblr. likes and kudos are nice but they really do not do much for us. feedback is the key to get more content. 
> 
> art on tumblr: http://karoviesart.tumblr.com/post/160905039591/art-for-my-fic-the-switch-a-bodyswap-story-the


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